


Made Whole

by KayleeJohn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Enemies to Lovers, Frottage, M/M, Porn with Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 14:57:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1174443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayleeJohn/pseuds/KayleeJohn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn and Niall have never gotten along, not since they first met and Zayn made fun of Niall's accent and Niall made fun of Zayn's tattoos and, long story short, they just don't like each other. Which, admittedly, is kind of a problem when you're soulmates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Made Whole

"You are  _useless_!" Niall shouts, tossing his textbook at Zayn's head across their study room but his book doesn't even make it halfway. It just thumps hard against the table before sliding off the edge but it still makes the other members of their group jump and turn to stare at the silent staring contest going on between Niall and Zayn as they glare at each other across the room.

"You're a fucking maniac." Zayn growls, planting his hands flat on the table as he makes to stand up but Perrie rushes over and grabs at Zayn's shoulders, settling him back in his chair before he can get too riled up.

"Just,  _calm down_ , boys." Perrie begs, moving away but she holds out her hands as if to keep them at bay. "The fact that Zayn doesn't have his research is irrelevant if you keep going for each other's throats. We'll never get the job done period, if it keeps up like this." 

"You know it's inevitable." Louis barks out in a little laugh, dipping his hands into his pockets in a nonchalant shrug. "We should just let them go at it until they end up fucking." Louis just smirks when Niall hisses at him but he full up throws his hands in surrender when Zayn makes to stand up. "I'm just saying." 

"And I'm just saying," Zayn stabs a finger through the air at Louis, tightening his fist until his nails dig into the meat of his palm. "That is never going to  _fucking_  happen, if I have any say in it," Zayn swings around on Niall to point a finger at him as well. "And you don't know what the  _fuck_  you're talking about. You don't know my life."

Perrie touches at Zayn's arm lightly but Zayn just shrugs her off and stands up, planting his fists so hard against the table top that his knuckles bleed white through his skin. "I don't know what kind of silver spoon lifestyle you have with your rich mommy and daddy but not everyone lives like that. Not everyone gets what they want  _every day of their life_  so don't tell me I'm useless when you have no idea who the fuck I am." 

They stare at each other for a long, hard moment as the others in the room just gape on but Niall is the first to break eye contact, ducking his chin into his chest as he starts packing his bag. He slams his books shut with loud, stiff thumps and struggles to shut the zip on his backpack until he just gives up and tosses his book bag onto the table.

Niall tries to look up at Zayn with a glare but a deep, guttural breath rushes out of him and he presses the back of his hand to his trembling lips. "Fuck you." He croaks before he starts to head toward the door and he jerks his arm away from Louis before he can even grab it, slamming the door shut behind himself.

Zayn gapes in silence, sinking back into his chair weakly before he turns to the others in the room but neither Perrie nor Louis nor Harry or Sophia meet his eyes until he throws his hands up frustratedly. "Okay, what?" He finally barks but still no one looks at him. Well, Perrie walks up to him, eyes on the ground, but she does smack him on the back of the head before turning away again. "Ow." He glares at her, reaching out to grab at her elbow and force her around so that she has no choice but to face him. "What is the  _deal?"_  

Perrie yanks her arm away and shoves her hands against his chest before she just shakes his head but she still doesn't meet his eyes and Zayn is just so freaking confused. "He's an orphan, you asshole." 

Zayn isn't confused anymore. He sinks back in his chair weakly and scales his hands down his face. "Fuck," He breathes, glancing up to see everyone blatantly staring at him now. "I didn't know?" He tries but it isn't a good enough answer. 

"Go." The word is almost said in unison, all four parties pointing at the study room door and Zayn hunches over in defeat before he stands up. Zayn doesn't know what he's going to say, let alone how on earth he's going to find Niall, but it turns out it isn't half as hard as he had expected it to be.

Zayn finds Niall curled up at the end of an aisle in the library, his thighs pressed tight to his chest and his arms wrapped around those tight so his nose is buried between the dips in his knees. Zayn takes a deep breath before he walks down the aisle and he sinks down to the floor in front of Niall but he doesn't dare reach a hand out. They're not at that level yet.

"I didn't do the work because I had to take care of my sisters." Zayn blurts in one long breath even though Niall hasn't bothered looking up yet. "Because both my parents have to take the night shift to even think about putting us all through school." Zayn twists so that he leans back against the bookshelves and he feels a little bad for dumping all that onto Niall's shoulders but it's as good an ice breaker as ever because Niall sniffles a little and raises his head. 

Niall's eyes are red rimmed, swollen, and his face flushed and Zayn is actually stumped into stone because he's so used to Niall looking like this little shit who thinks he belongs on top of the world that this other side of Niall is like a foreign concept.

Niall tugs down his sleeve to whip across his eyes before he coughs out a laugh. "It's pretty pathetic, I know." He gestures at himself before he knocks his head back against the wall and swallows over the stone in his throat. "My parents died when I was six. And I'm still not over it." 

Zayn's heart stops hard in his chest and he clenches his fists at his sides, scratching blunt nails against the ground before he shakes his head. "That's not something you get over." Zayn mumbles, dropping his eyes to the ground and he counts the specks of dirt and grime on the ground until it feels as if an appropriate amount of time has passed that he can glance over at Niall. "What happened?" He hesitates to ask but he feels as if it'll be better if he knows.

"Uh," Niall reaches up to scratch at the skin under his eye before he shrugs his shoulders idly. "Car crash." He says with another shrug of his shoulders. "Slippery road, dark night, drunk driver." Niall tries to take a strong breath but it shakes in his throat and he covers his eyes with a shaking hand. "How do you tell a six year old that the parents who woke him that morning won't be there to kiss him goodnight anymore?" Niall's mouth curls in a sob that he muffles with a fist against his lips, squeezing his eyes shut tight as tears stick to his eyelashes.

Zayn curses low before he shifts across the floor, tucking into the tight space between Niall and the wall but only so he can wrap an arm around Niall's shoulders so that they won't shake anymore. "Fuck, I'm sorry, Niall."

"Stop being so nice. It's weird." Niall shoves against Zayn's chest as if to fall back in their old ways but Zayn just holds on tighter until Niall tucks into his shoulder, muffling hiccups into Zayn's shirt. Zayn doesn't really know how long they sit there as Niall's hiccups fade to short breaths and his fingers start to toy with wrist of Zayn's sweater. 

Zayn squeezes Niall's shoulder one last time before he pulls his arm away gently and he reaches down to fuss with his shoes just so he doesn't have to look at Niall because it is weird. They've never been this nice to each other, not even the first time they met because Zayn made fun of Niall's accent and Niall made fun of Zayn's tattoos. "We can't hate each other forever." Zayn says though because this softer side of Niall is one Zayn wouldn't mind seeing again if only so they don't have to snap at each other's throats every five seconds. 

Niall chuckles and bumps his shoulder against Zayn's lightly. "I'm pretty sure my parents fought until the very last moment." Zayn blinks at Niall confusedly so Niall rushes to elaborate, waving his hands around a little. "They weren't soulmates, you know? And you know what they say about happiness and all that." Niall just shrugs his shoulders and twists his head away. "I guess that's why they didn't have a life full of happiness." 

"I don't believe in that." Zayn says almost immediately because one, he doesn't like the edge of sadness creeping up in Niall's voice again and two, he really doesn't believe in these 'soulmate lockets'; it all seems to be just a big joke than anything else. "You just meet someone and they change your life forever? And you're always happy? I don't see that happening to me."

Zayn shrugs his shoulders and sighs but he plucks the necklace from where it's tucked under his shirt. "No. This thing," Zayn works the chain between his fingers softly, always looking for the clasp even though he knows there isn't one. "This thing is just going to weigh me down with 'what if's for the rest of my life." 

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Niall smiles and the sight of it makes Zayn stiffen down to his toes because it just lights up Niall's whole face and makes his flush look like a blush instead of tears. Niall pulls his own locket from his shirt and flips it up so that he can look at it. "It's so stupid. Sometimes I just want to cut it off." 

Zayn laughs and nods because he knows exactly what Niall means but he's heard stories of people cutting off their necklaces and living a life of misery without knowing exactly who their other half is. Zayn moves to tuck his necklace back into his shirt and offer that they both head back to their group but, glancing at Niall's necklace makes him stop still.

Zayn might not believe in it and he definitely doesn't ask people about it but they both already have them out and, "Do they...?" Zayn trails off, nodding at Niall's necklace when Niall glances up at him and, for a moment, Zayn thinks Niall is going to jerk away and yell at him or something. He doesn't, so Zayn chalks that up as a step forward to their being something along the lines of friends. 

Niall shrugs but he holds out his locket and, as he leans in, Zayn prepares himself up for the same old disappointment he feels every time he tries with someone new but then- Their lockets click together perfectly and Zayn lets out a rough breath, falling back against the wall with a disbelieving sigh.

"Oh," Niall takes a deep breath before he nudges a finger against their clasped half hearts and they break apart again but the point is that they snapped together perfectly and that means that they're soulmates, they're meant to be together, they  _belong_  together, they're going to be  _happy_  together. "I don't know what to say."

Surprisingly, Zayn leans back against the wall and laughs, a warm smile spreading across his lips. "I don't think anyone knows what to say. It happens one time and no one knows when or how." Zayn shrugs his shoulders a little before he stands up and he offers a hand out to Niall to help him up as well. "I guess we really can't hate each other forever now." 

"No, I guess we can't." Niall hauls himself up with Zayn's hand and laughs a little at his words, wiping the wrist of his shirt across his eyes one last time before he nods down the aisle. "Let's finish this project. We can deal with everything else later." Niall sets his eyes on Zayn's levelly and waits for Zayn to nod before he starts walking. 

A part of Zayn feels like he should argue that they should talk now but, an hour ago, he and Niall were about to kill each other over the simple fact that they had to do a project together. This thing is going to take some time but, strangely enough, Zayn is almost looking forward to it.

The project is finished just in time and, for his individual mark, Zayn gets a 78 on it which is a higher mark than he could’ve ever hoped for and probably a greater mark than he deserves. But, when Danny texts him this week about the Friday night rager, almost begging him to come just for once, Zayn actually says yes, as a treat to himself. 

When Danny pulls up outside and honks the horn, Zayn bids his parents goodbye and they actually look a little happy that he’s going out? He doesn’t really think about it too much because it’s not like he never goes out. Well, actually.

Still, Zayn heads outside and hops into the passenger seat, waving at Danny idly until he realizes that, hang on, they aren’t alone in the car. Perrie is sitting in the back, along with two other girls that Zayn doesn’t recognize and Zayn waves at them as well, sending them some sort of half smile as Danny pulls away from the curb.

“Ladies,” Danny purrs as he focuses on the road and, though Zayn is a little wary with what he has to say, especially in  _that_ tone, he isn’t exactly in a place to stop him. “This is the mystical unicorn I’ve been telling you about. Zayn, this is Chelsea, Abbey, and P-,”

“Yeah,” Zayn cuts Danny off, twisting around to smile at the girls again but properly this time, less awkwardness hanging off his bones that’s reserved strictly for strangers. “I know Perrie. Nice to meet you.” Zayn twists back around and, as soon as Danny hits a red light, he reaches over and punches at his shoulder, dropping his voice down to a hiss as he speaks next, “Mystical unicorn?”

Danny squawks and holds his hands up in surrender, ducking against the door to move that much further from Zayn, as if that’ll help him any. The girls let out giggles from the back seat and the sound of it makes Zayn remember that he has an audience but, honestly? Mystical unicorn? Where on earth did that come from? ”What? You never come out with us.” Danny ducks in when the light changes back to green because he has to grab at the steering wheel again but he glances over at Zayn anxiously. “You’re as good as a unicorn.”

“You couldn’t give me something cool, like big foot or the lochness monster?” Zayn grumbles back, dropping his voice even lower as he crosses his arms over his chest and their petty little argument continues on for the rest of the drive with the girls breaking off into their own conversation when they get bored. Zayn swears he hears his name pop up a half dozen times, but he doesn’t really take too much notice of it. If they want something of him, they’ll ask.

When they pull up outside the house, packed with cars in the driveway and on the lawn and up and down the street, Perrie loops her hand around one of Zayn’s as they step out of the car and she grins when he shoots her a confused look, all bunched brows and creased lips. “You’ll thank me later.” She simply hums, continuing her saunter as they head toward the front door and Zayn isn’t exactly sure what she means, at least he isn’t until Danny pulls open the front door and the sheer crowd inside makes his heart thump twice, hard.

If Zayn thought the house was big on the outside, with its daunting form and three stories, it’s positively massive on the inside. The entry way alone is filled with people but, on top of that, there is just people everywhere, on the stairs and in the doorways leading off the main hall. There’s people on top of people and crammed in every corner and Zayn has never really been a victim to claustrophobia but, fuck, this makes him want to bury his head in the ground.

“See?” She chirps over the bass of the pounding music, squeezing Zayn’s arm lightly before she leads him inside and, though he’s sure he wouldn’t step a foot inside that crowd without her coaxing, he could do without her taunting, no matter how light it is.

Danny snaps his fingers at the foursome with a grin when they’re in the thick of it, pointing his fingers like he’s cocking two guns. “I’ll be right back. I’m getting drinks.” And then Danny just disappears into the throng like he is swallowed up by the sheer crowd of grinding and gyrating and rutting people.

Zayn swallows and tucks closer to Perrie, watching as the other two girls meld into the crowd like Danny had done before. It’s truly terrifying, like an unending mass, and Zayn would give anything to just turn around and head back outside but then Perrie nudges her elbow lightly into his hip. “You okay there?” She asks, pulling her arm away but only so she can wrap it around Zayn’s waist and stroke into his back. “Let’s go. Deep breath.” She hums before she starts pressing in and Zayn has no choice but to walk with her. 

It doesn’t take long to realize that the crowd is ten times more intimidating on the outside looking in than actually in the midst of it because, yeah, while there are wily elbows and bucking hips and bodies pressed tight in compact heat, Perrie makes a clear path through the throng, enough that the crowd gives around them and it isn’t altogether too overbearing.

Perrie leads the way into the kitchen where the crowd is greatly lessened to two girls playing beer pong and their avid audience, others camping over the food table, and Danny, trying to impress the other two girls with amateur bartender skills. Zayn and Perrie grab a beer each and Zayn is just starting to feel relaxed as he takes steady pulls from it.

At least, he was until he looks over the breakfast bar into the living room where most of the party is congregated and the crowd almost seems to part like a knife through warm butter, letting Zayn’s eyes land right on this shaggy head of blonde hair and Zayn  _knows_ , of course he knows. A hot pang shoots through Zayn’s heart and, god, it just pulses over his skin and he’s pulling away from Perrie before he’s even really conscious of it.

“Zayn?” She asks, cocking her head to the side in confusion but Zayn can’t focus on her right now because his mind is completely consumed with  _Niall_. He just shakes his head at her and fully pulls away, clutching his beer in a careful hand as he starts weaving his way out of the kitchen and back through the crowd.

It takes him a minute or two to get up to Niall, behind him rather, so the people he’s talking with - Liam, two girls, and Louis - notice Zayn first. Liam literally jumps past Niall, stepping in between him and Zayn as if they’re just going to launch at each other like snapping dogs, and Zayn hates the way Liam puffs up his chest a little because it makes him look fucking dumb. 

“Hey, Zayn, come on now.” Liam starts, reaching out his hands kindly, but all Zayn’s focusing on is the way Niall’s head snaps around at the sound of his name, eyes widening and cheeks colouring and it’s so distinctly  _not_  from alcohol that Zayn feels a little tingly in his hands. “We’re all friends here.” Liam offers but Zayn is barely registering his words anymore, far too concerned with the way Niall steps a little further into view and Zayn can see him toy with his plastic cup.

Niall isn’t running away though so Zayn takes it as a win and steps around Liam, dodging the way Liam’s arms shoot up as a last defence. Zayn slights him angrily out of the corner of his eye before turning softer on Niall and he shrugs his shoulders a little just so that he knows this isn’t serious and is  _very_  optional. “Can I talk to you?” Zayn just hopes Niall says yes because a talk is far overdue.

Niall claps a gentle hand to Liam’s shoulder and eases him aside so that he and Zayn stand a bit closer like he  _wants_  to be closer and Zayn just about can’t breathe. “Yeah, sure.”  Niall nods and Zayn might sigh a bit too happily, too quickly, too easily but Niall doesn’t notice (or doesn’t care) because he starts moving away from his little group with a final look at Liam as if to wave him off.

Niall edges around the crowd and makes a beeline for the stairs, checking twice over his shoulder to make sure Zayn is still with him as he climbs past countless chatting couples, but Zayn is just trying to pretend that the way they’re heading up the stairs doesn’t look like what it looks like.

Niall turns into the last door on the right, shutting it with a clip after Zayn steps in, and the music is so subdued back here that it’s just a muffled thud in the back of Zayn’s mind, like they’re next door to the party instead of on top of it.

The room itself is homely, clearly that of whoever lives in the house because there are clothes strewn around it and posters hung up and the bed is a little messy but Zayn tries not to notice that as Niall turns up the sheets and sinks down on the edge of it and, when he pats the space beside him, Zayn doesn’t need for more prompting. Zayn sits beside Niall and he watches as Niall fumbles with the sheets, twining his fingers around and around as he glances around the room, everywhere but at Zayn’s face as he pops out a curt, “So,” 

Zayn doesn’t actually know what he wants to say any more, all gall to speak vanishing in a flash now that they’re alone and so he drains his cup and swipes his thumb over the little marks of condensation around the rim of it, just to have something to do with himself. And, oh god, he really has to break this awkward silence, so he says the first thing that comes to mind. “We did great on the project.” He blurts out and twists his head away so Niall can’t see the wince on his face. Talk of school, great. He is the most boring person to ever live.

“Yeah, I saw.” Niall hums lightly from behind and Zayn glances over to see Niall smiling lightly at the floor. “S’good, isn’t it? I mean, after everything.” Niall twists his head a little and, like a see saw, Zayn twists away and rakes his eyes over the books lining shelves along the wall, the magazine spread of which the spines form a scantily clad woman. 

Zayn has to clear his throat before he can speak because, even though he just drank, he feels parched straight to hell. Still, he nods his head and mumbles a soft, “Yeah,” before he glances back over and he doesn’t know when he stood up but Niall is standing by the windows now, pushing the curtains aside with a pointed finger and, if Zayn strains his ears, he can hear the sound of cheering pouring in through the cracks like the party has spilled into the back yard.

“So, what’s up?” Niall asks before he tips back his glass and Zayn is just struck by the way his throat works, so long that he doesn’t realize he has to answer until Niall clears his throat and smiles at him a little bashfully. 

“Oh, I, uh,” Zayn rubs at the back of his neck and drops his eyes to the ground, suddenly swapped with feelings of inadequacy and he kind of wants to say just forget the whole thing but there’s no way he can stay at the party and have a good time, knowing things are so incomplete between him and Niall.

“I just,” Zayn stammers a little, waving his hands around a little as if that will get the words out for him. “I don’t know. I get the feeling you’re avoiding me?” He trails off and threads his fingers through his hair but it’s the truth because every time he’s seen Niall in the hallway, Niall’s often times dived into an open class door or down a different hallway and, when they have classes together, it’s like Zayn would be better off invisible.

“That or,” Zayn continues, dropping his voice low as if he’ll just trail off but he doesn’t and the necklace wears heavy around his neck when he tugs at the chain of it with his thumb. “That or I’ve spoiled things.” Zayn pauses before he continues, mumbling under his break, “Like usual,” and, yeah, the words are a bit of a low jab but they came out a little - a lot - involuntarily. 

When Niall lets out a deep sigh, Zayn glances over, watching as Niall rakes his fingers through his hair a little roughly. “It’s,” Niall walks back over and sits on the bed again, peeking at Zayn before he shuffles closer. “It’s not really that. It’s more like, holy shit, you know?” Niall nudges his knee against Zayn’s lightly but he leaves them pressed together instead of moving away and it shouldn’t but it makes Zayn’s heartbeat rocket just the slightest bit higher.

“Vaguely,” Zayn mumbles because he does understand, they’re in this together after all. His opinion hasn’t changed about this whole soul mate thing, the fact that it’s completely bogus and yet, there  _is_ the way he’s always felt inexplicably drawn to Niall, first at the way his hair is so stupidly golden and his skin is an awful mix of white and red, both definitions of the word, and now at the way Niall’s eyes are just this indescribable shade of blue and he’s got this bad habit of biting at his lips when he’s trying to focus. 

 _Christ_ , Zayn has got it bad already. He shakes his head a little, as if that will free his mind from the thoughts, and he drops his fingers to a loose thread on the coverlet to start pulling at it absentmindedly. He’s unable to keep from meeting Niall’s eyes again though, nodding his head as he breathes softly, ”Yeah.”

“It’s like,” Niall takes a big breath and, when he lets it out, he flops down on the bed, stretching his arms out over the length of it to starfish and it’s such a lewd stretch that Zayn almost looks away but he doesn’t and it’s a good thing because he would’ve missed the way Niall damps his lips with a gentle flick of his tongue before he continues. ”I want to talk to someone but I have no one to talk to, you know? Like, there isn’t anyone in my family that’s found their soul mate.”

Niall hugs his arms to his chest and shudders before he drops his head to the right so he can stare up at Zayn where he’s twisted back. ”It’s like some great cosmic fluke and  _we_  found each other?” Niall tugs the necklace out of his shirt, toting it above his face so he can look at it with bunched up brows like it is the cause of his confusion but it  _is_ truly. “We won the lottery or whatever?” The words shouldn’t sting as much as they do but the fact that they’re true just makes it all the worse.

Niall sighs and palms a hand down his face, sighing into his hand before he pushes himself up to sit again, twisting to face Zayn fully. ”And you’re great, you know.” Niall reaches out and scales a hand over Zayn’s arm, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. “I’m sure you’re a wonderful person, beyond all the banter, but,” And, when Niall pulls his hand away, Zayn’s arm is this remarkable kind of cold that stumps him.

“It’s just that thought of ‘what if’ about everything.” Niall folds his hands neatly in his lap, over and over in these jerky, nervous movements. “Like what if I end up with someone else and we just, fucking, click, like they just  _get_ me, you know? No matter what the necklace says or, or does.” 

Fuck, Zayn has got it  _really_  bad because he absolutely cringes at the idea, twines a finger around the hem of his shirt because he has absolutely no right to claim ownership over Niall, not when they’ve barely got over the step of strangers. But they’re not strangers; they’re soulmates, literally meant to be together and practically are  _together_  as far as the cosmos are concerned and, well, that is good enough as far as Zayn is concerned. 

So he reaches out a hand and cups the back of Niall’s head, threading his fingers through Niall’s hair lightly. He’s thrown for a loop when Niall leans into his touch and flutters his eyes shut and the mere sight makes Zayn want to kiss him. So he does. Zayn leans in and slots their lips together and, admittedly, Niall does scramble back a little, breaking their lip lock with a short gasp but Zayn just leans further forward to press their lips back together, knowing that Niall would push him away if he really wanted to.

But he doesn’t, nor does he pull away again, and Zayn wraps an arm gently around Niall’s waist to hug him close, as close as they can be sitting side by side. Niall lets his hands settle on Zayn’s shoulders as he angles his head up perfectly to return the kiss and it is just this slice of flawless bliss as their mouths slide slick together, and, when Niall gasps his lips open to trail his tongue over Zayn’s bottom lip, it’s heady and hot and it makes Zayn moan a little brokenly that he dips his head so they break apart.

Zayn leans his forehead against Niall’s gently, panting as he unfurls the fist his hand has made in the back of Niall’s shirt at some point in their kiss and he smoothes his palm down Niall’s back to unfurl the wrinkles in his shirt. ”I could be that person.” Zayn breathes softly and, when he licks his lips, he tastes a bit too much beer and not enough Niall but that just means he’ll have to try again, if Niall will let him. 

Niall lets his arms slide a bit further so that he’s wrapping them around the breadth of Zayn’s shoulders and he shuffles around until his knees press right up against Zayn’s thighs. “And,” Niall starts in a bit of a thick voice and so, when Zayn looks up, he really shouldn’t be as surprised as he is at the way Niall’s cheeks are ruddy red and his eyes are blown wide and his lips are bitten this awful shade of pink - only in the good way this time - but he is, happy surprised, he guesses.

Niall twitches his hands apart so one of them scratches through the hair at the nape of Zayn’s neck and the other skitters down to cup Zayn’s cheek and trace over the line of his jaw gently. “What if I wanted someone who, just has crazy hot sex with me every day, hm?” Niall cocks his head to the side before he licks at his lips again, like they need to get any more damp. 

Zayn rucks Niall’s shirt up a little to get his hand up underneath, thumbing softly over the soft skin at the small of his back as his heart thumps twice, hard, and he has to sigh out a lungful just to make sure his voice comes out steady because he  _knows_  it’ll come out in a shake otherwise. ”That sounds good too.” Zayn’s voice is  _disgustingly_  heavy but Niall just grins at it, leaning forward to snap his teeth softly at the plush of Zayn’s lips.

Except, Zayn has to say, “I just,” He starts, ducking his head before he presses his hand a little firmer against Niall’s back. “I hope you don’t feel like you’re just  _settling_  for me, y’know?” Zayn doesn’t feel like he’s being too far fetched because they were just very literally thrown together, without much choice on either side, but the last thing he wants is Niall feeling obligated to stay with him. 

Zayn chances a glance up and Niall just has this look in his eyes, bunched brows, and a frown painting over his lips and Zayn actually thinks Niall is about to say something along the lines that he really  _doesn’t_  have a choice, what with their necklaces, but then Niall drops his hand to the neck of Zayn’s shirt and  _heaves_ him roughly in. Niall smushes their lips together just on this side of hard, muffling the word ‘no’ over and over into Zayn’s mouth until he can taste it and, boy, does it ever taste good. 

They end up with Zayn flat on the bed and Niall straddling his hips and Zayn can feel the way Niall’s erection is pressing hard against the seam of his pants but he is in no place to talk, seconds away from bursting out of his own jeans. He can’t help it, what with the way they keep rutting slowly against in each other in jerky, aborted moves.

Zayn feels sparks shooting over his spine with every thrust and he digs his nails a little harder in where they’re clamping on the bare skin of Niall’s back, swallows down Niall’s curt gasps and groans when he swirls his hips. When he ducks his head down to lap over Niall’s throat though, he bucks a little wildly at the way a raw moan spills out of Niall’s mouth and has to scrape his teeth over Niall’s adam’s apple to keep down a growl because that is far too feral for his liking.

“Wait, wait,” Niall chokes out, reaching up to grab at Zayn’s hair and yank him away from his throat and Zayn goes because those words are a cold shower that make him feel like he’s done something wrong. He stops still and pulls his hands away, planting them into the bed as if to say he’ll keep them to himself. “Are we...” Niall palms his hands shakily down Zayn’s chest, pushing them up the bottom of the hem to get at Zayn’s skin. “Is this, I mean... too fast, d’you think?” 

And, oh, well, that isn’t at all where Zayn thought the conversation was going. It’s a fraction better than what he had in mind but it’s still a break, one that Zayn neither wants nor needs. “I don’t think normal rules apply to this situation.” Zayn offers because it’s true; there isn’t exactly an instruction manual on how to behave with your soul mate either though. “We still need to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Niall nods and clambers off Zayn’s lap and the relief of pressure is both a blessing and a curse in Zayn’s mind. “Alright, yeah.” Niall fixes his shirt before he runs his fingers through his hair and tucks his legs neatly underneath himself and he does look the slightest bit downtrodden, clasping his fists on his thighs, and distinctly  _not_ in Zayn’s arms.

“We don’t, uh, I don’t mind.” Zayn shrugs his shoulders because he’s impartial and, truthfully, he doesn’t exactly know what time it is anymore, how long they’ve been up here and if anyone has come to look for them or not. Or if Niall still even wants to be up, regardless of the fact that he had his hands stuck up Zayn’s shirt mere moments ago. “We don’t have to talk right now.”

Niall sucks his bottom lip into his mouth lightly, sinking his teeth in just the slightest bit as he cocks his head to the side and, when he runs his hand through his hair again, it’s slower this time, with much more carnal intent as his lips curl in a bit of a ravenous grin. “Good,” Niall shuffles around to his hands and knees and he crawls over the bed to nuzzle his nose gently against Zayn’s. “Because I have no intention of  _talking_  right now.”

And Zayn doesn’t get the chance to ask Niall exactly what his  _intentions_ are - even though he’s pretty sure he knows - because Niall is pushing him back down to the bed and pressing his tongue into Zayn’s mouth, effectively shutting him up, and Zayn just really doesn’t mind it. Maybe this whole soulmate deal has got one thing right.

Especially with the way Niall gets his hands up under Zayn’s shirt and whips it off, rolling them over so he’s the one pressed back in the bed and Zayn’s bearing down on him, slotting a leg up between Niall’s thighs so he has something good to grind against while Zayn presses down on Niall’s hip. 

Their kiss turns sloppy, slippery with spit and so  _disgustingly_  wet but Zayn just loves it because Niall keeps keening so high into it. Niall reaches down between them to get at the buckles of their jeans and he moves slowly at first, cautious, but shoves Zayn’s pants down his legs when Zayn cants his hips a little harshly into his hand. Niall manages to kick his own pants right off, tangles Zayn’s around his ankles, and he loops a hand around both their pricks so he can buck up into it. 

Zayn wrenches his mouth away and arches up, leaning his forehead against Niall’s so he can glance down at the way their red heads are fucking through the white circle of Niall’s fist, sticky wet with precome. It makes Zayn want to bow his back and come all over the creamy skin on Niall’s stomach, only more so when Niall scratches his free hand down Zayn’s back before hauling him in by his ass and Zayn blurts a thick string of precome into the matted thatch of hair below Niall’s belly button at the forceful feel of it. 

“Bet you’d be good at fucking, yeah?” Niall gasps suddenly and Zayn had never thought he’d be into talking during sex, judging by past experiences, but the thick sound of Niall’s accent makes him duck his head down into the crook of Niall’s neck just to muffle the incoherent growls slipping out of his throat. “Next time?” Oh,  _god_ , it’s only - stupidly - hitting Zayn now that there’s going to be a next time and he has to bite his tongue to keep from coming right then and there. 

Still, he nods his head a little more enthusiastically than he would’ve ever liked to and tries to speak in a half hearted voice to make up for it, grunting out curtly, ”If you want me to,” but his attempt is such a failure by the way his voice cracks, and terribly so, at the end of his words. It's just that he is, needless to say, completely enchanted by the mere idea.

Niall chuckles and arches his body further up, dropping his head back to the bed as he moves his hips in fluid rolls that just send these sticky pangs right down Zayn’s spine and make him clench right up down to his toes. “Want you to right now, but I’m so  _close,_ ” Niall huffs out a little heavily before he twists his head and he kisses across Zayn’s cheeks until he can catch Zayn’s lips.

The press of their mouths only serves to muffle Niall’s hitched little breathes, wholly ineffective when Zayn mumbles against his mouth, “Next time you’re on top,” and Niall promptly comes with two more shallow jerks of his hips and a long cry spilling from his mouth. Zayn thrusts right through it, using Niall’s come as extra lube, and there isn’t really anything Zayn can do to stop following right after Niall, definitely not with the way Niall’s hand is shaky but tight and sticky wet and he is just bucking up to get Zayn closer.

Zayn comes in spurts across Niall’s stomach, fulfilling some deep desire to mess up Niall’s skin, and Zayn ducks back into Niall’s throat as his toes curl up in the bedding so that his pitiful moans aren’t so loud. But then Niall’s lacing a hand in Zayn’s hair and Zayn shifts his legs so his knees dig into the mattress and his last few thrusts are stronger as he milks himself right off.

Niall wipes his used hand off onto the bed so he can cup Zayn’s throat and drag him in for a slow necking and that’s the way they stay, trading lazy kisses and intimate smiles, not really speaking but there isn’t much to be said, at least nothing so urgent that needs to be said right now, and Niall is just starting to peel his shirt off to clean up the mess on his stomach when the bedroom door starts to creak open and that is just,  _no_. 

Despite how fast they try to move, it isn’t nearly fast enough, so they’re still in an obvious state of debauched when Harry’s head peeks around the corner and he starts speaking much faster than his usual lilt, so fast that he’s got most of he spiel out before he realizes exactly what condition they’re in. “Hi, just here to make sure you aren’t ripping each other’s heads off-  _oh_.” The way Harry’s eyes widen is obvious even from this distance and Niall gives up on his clothes only to hug the bed sheets up to his chest. 

Harry ducks back out and, if only that were the end of it, Zayn’s sigh would’ve been well deserved, but it’s not because Danny, Perrie, Liam, Louis, and Sophia walk in instead and it’s as if the party has moved upstairs instead of downstairs because they're all here and  _gaping_ moreover but Louis is clearly the happiest. “I’m not gonna say I told you so,” He starts in a jaunty voice, clapping his hands together. “But I fucking told you so!” 

Louis is still dancing around when Liam groans and staggering around like he’s just found out his dog is dead. “In my bed, guys? Seriously?” And Zayn kind of feels bad but, hey, he wasn’t the one that brought them in here and certainly not for this reason. Niall doesn’t seem that bothered either, chuckling and shrugging as he pulls his pants on under the blankets, before he crawls over to kneel by Zayn’s side and he twists Zayn’s face with a gentle hand on his cheek as if the others aren’t still standing in the room at all. 

“I think we’ve got a lot of time to make up for, after hating each other so long, yeah?” And Zayn would be hard pressed to disagree with that, so he just nods his head, smiles into the kiss Niall presses into his lips despite the jeers and Liam's whining and, yeah, Zayn’s still a bit of a cynic that this necklace is going to just bring him happiness but, hey, he can’t really argue with the evidence here now can he. 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment letting me know what you think!
> 
> And this has been posted on [my tumblr](http://leprechauncupcakes.tumblr.com/post/71468641873/made-whole-ziall) in two parts if you want to read it there!


End file.
